Well Java would be my prefered language, it's more open and portable. Choose wise.

One thing, for quick starting on mobil devices C# is a nice language (Don't get up with VB.NET its not easyer). The only problem is, that you must have at least Visual Studio Standard Edition , which costs about 500$, since embedded development is not supported with the free Visual Studio Express. I would prefer the Professional Edition. There is a 80 days trial version of Visual Studio Professional available by microsoft. Better use the Mobil Developer Resource kit, which also ships examples and updates. If you want to learn the right way use Java.

Hard to choose. Since the IDE's for Java are way more better and free for all kind of use, i would prefer java for you to start with. simply go to www.eclipse.org and download it. run eclipse. Select workspace. Create a new java project. Create a class with a main function. For example: main(String args[]) { System.out.println("Hallo Welt"); } Click the right down arrow next to the play button. Select menuentry Run... Double click on the entry "Java Application" to create a new run profil. Close the dialog. Click the play button. There you got it. The console should write hallo world.

Look at ADO.NET its a pain in the ass. Look at Hibernating ... ok there is also a port called NHibernate. In my opinion most server side development is best done with java.

Thats a good forum: http://forum.java.sun.com/index.jspa[^] You hit the right one. My companys main focus is on embedded device programming. We only do .NET programs on the embedded side. PC our programs are all based on java. We decided to do so, because most datacapture devices are based on windows mobil. Of course if you want to start with java embedded programming you will have to use java 1.4 which is less different than 1.5 or 1.6, so you can start learning 1.6. Look out for IBM Websphere Mobil Device Center if you want to start the best supported way. eclipse.org is also featuring a embedded programming plugin but i havent tested out yet.

You can start directly with C# no Problem. There are no depending things you must know to understand the "upper" language.

Best Option you can choose. I work in .NET and Java, know both sides and prefer Java as the best option. In fact if you look through the web you will see, that there are more librarys for java than for .NET.